Biggles Cuts It Fine/plot
Chapter 1: Mainly About Islands After a general and historically accurate discussion about remote islands, Air Commodore Raymond hands Biggles a roving commission to inspect various strategically located uninhabited islands in the Southern Indian Ocean. The islands lie on important air routes and there had been some concern that hostile powers might be planning to use them for military outposts. This was supported by intelligence reports that agents were being trained behind the Iron Curtain for remote maritime operations. These men had departed in submarines and in some cases, the boats had returned without them. An aircraft could do the job much more quickly than ships and the job had landed with the Air Police. Several of the island groups, such as the Crozets, were French, so Biggles suggests inviting Marcel Brissac along. Chapter 2: A Roving Commission For several weeks, the Air Police crew with Marcel, fly patrols in two Sunderland flying boats but have little to report. Operating out of South Africa or Western Australia, they had visited each of the remote islands of concern but had seen nothing. Finally, on what they planned to be their last sortie, Ginger spots smoke and then the figure of a man on Possession Island in the Crozet group. Using the dinghy, Ginger hauls the man, a survivor of a shipwreck, on board. He is alone but some of his shipmates might have gotten ashore on Hog Island nearby. There's a sheltered anchorage there, so the two Sunderlands put down and regroup. Chapter 3: Alf Robinson The survivor is Alf Robinson. He had been shipwrecked but had managed to drift in a lifeboat which then ran aground on Possession Island. There, he had the good fortune to find a supply depot set up by a navy ship many years ago and subsisted on the food for some four to five months. Then one day, he spotted a submarine offshore and ran to a hilltop to light a bonfire but he slipped and was knocked unconscious. When he came to, he found that the submarine had gone but had left behind one of its sailors, Willy. Willy was a German submariner but had been recruited by the Russians and sent to work on one of its submarines. He had travelled to the Magellen Straits and then to Hog Island in the Crozet Islands group. At various stops, the submarine had landed a party of men who seemed to do a lot of measuring. When the submarine reached the Crozets, Willy began to show the symptoms of consumption and so the submarine crew had forced him ashore on Possession Island. Willy died about 6 weeks later, bitter about the way he had been treated. Biggles decides that he must fly back to London to report and get further instructions. Chapter 4: Leave it to Bigglesworth Air Commodore Raymond and Major Charles are alarmed to hear Biggles' report but given the political sensivities, there is little that can be done officially. Raymond suggests that they "leave it to Bigglesworth. He'll think of something." This suits Biggles. He intends to pursue his investigations on Hog Island and if the Iron Curtain forces had indeed landed, he intends to "put obstacles in the way." "Don't make it too drastic," Charles urges. But Raymond also has bad news: it seems Alf Robinson had spoken to a newspaper and there is a story about his shipwreck and how he had been picked up by an aircraft from Possession Island. Thankfully, he had followed Biggles' advice not to mention the submarine or Willy, but the damage is enough. If Iron Curtain agents read the story, they would be certain to follow up. Chapter 5: Unpleasant Consequences Biggles hurriedly sends a warning to Alf through Algy but he arrives in Cape Town to find the message unopened in Algy's pigeonhole. With the help of the local police, he locates Alf in hospital. He had been hit on the head and dumped into the sea but was rescued by a witness. There is only one Sunderland in the harbour. Algy and the others had obviously gone off in the other one, but why are they late coming back? Chapter 6: Ginger Goes Ashore What Algy and co. had done was simply to follow the plan Biggles had set for them before departing for London. They rested for two days and then, as the weather became unusually good, they decided to reconnoitre Hog Island and look for signs of habitation. After an uneventful flight, Algy puts down at Deliverance Bay in Hog Island. Ginger and Marcel go ashore and find signs of unwelcome visitors: part of a Russian cigarette packet, survey markers, and a rabbit caught in a snare. Then they hear the Sunderland taking off in a hurry. A submarine is entering the bay and has started shooting at the flying boat! Ginger and Marcel find a rocky crevice and decide to hide there from the submarine crew. Chapter 7: Strange Harbour Algy and Bertie have their own set of problems. The gunfire from the submarine has holed a tank and has also punctured the hull. Algy stays airborne until Bertie can finish emergency repairs. Then, approaching Penguin Island, he spots a large lake set within the cone of an extinct volcano and puts down on it. Here they would be sheltered from bad weather and the submarine but they are soon grounded by fog. Chapter 8: Browned Off Ginger and Marcel spend a miserable time in their cave. It was still only Thursday. The earliest Biggles could be expected back was Sunday. Bored with hiding from the submarine, Ginger decides to explore the island by night. He finds a nissen hut with lighted windows--someone has set up camp on the island and he might be able to get some food from there! Ginger and Marcel get their chance the next morning when they see the submarine land a party of six men with supplies. They carry the boxes inland and then return with a seventh, bearded, man in a blue jacket--probably the resident caretaker of the facility. With the whole group at the beach, Ginger and Marcel are able to get to the nissen hut undetected. Ginger steals some food and they head back for their hideout. Chapter 9: Out of the Frying Pan On the lake, Algy and Bertie awake to find the water frozen over! They might be trapped. But the ice is still thin. After freeing ice around the aircraft, Algy taxys it as an icebreaker. He clears a fairway and then performs a harrowing take-off, still unable to see the top of the crater edge because of the fog. The aircraft clears the top safely and then they spot the submarine at sea. So it had left Hog Island! Algy heads for it to pick up Ginger and Marcel. As they make their approach into the bay, Algy and Bertie sees Ginger and Marcel waving furiously. They think it is a sign of welcome but actually, Ginger and Marcel had seen the submarine dropping mines into the bay and were trying to wave them off. But neither Algy nor Bertie get it and as the Sunderland touches down, it is rocked by a massive explosion which carries the aircraft on a massive wave of water towards the shore. Fortunately the receding water sets the flying boat down gently on a sloping shelf. It is not badly damaged but it has been beached. Chapter 10: Aviation the Hard Way The blue jacketed caretaker, attracted by the sound of the explosion, comes down to look. Algy needs to prevent him from radioing his submarine for help so, fetching pistols from the Sunderland, they head for his hut where Ginger and Marcel take down the poles holdung up the antenna. Returning to the Sunderland, they begin to dig away the soft pumice rock from the aircraft in the hope that the rising tide would float it off. Chapter 11: Saturday Morning They finally succeed in floating the Sunderland but now Ginger spots a fresh problem: an iceberg seems to have drifted by, blocking the exit of the bay. Ginger climbs a hill to take a better look. Up on the crest, he sees what appears to be artificial stone work. Pulling the stones away, he discovers that it is a doorway leading to a gallery carved in the rock. Inside are mounted rocket launchers and guns with embrasures cut through the rock. The enemy had built a secret fortress on the island! Ginger is about to leave when hears the caretaker approaching. He hides but soon hears Marcel coming up, calling for him. Ginger spots the caretaker undercover and about to use his revolver and shouts a hasty warning. Marcel exchanges fire with the caretaker and comes off on top. The caretaker, apparently hit, plunges out of sight down a cliff. Chapter 12: Marcel Takes Charge Ice bergs block the take-off path. Meanwhile, the submarine has returned and attempts to land a shore party. Marcel decides it is up to him to defend French territory and with the others, they man the guns in the island fortress and fire on the submarine, driving it off. But now they hear Biggles arriving in the other Sunderland. Will he hit the mines? Chapter 13: Out With a Bang Biggles lands safely and is brought up to date on what has happened. But now the submarine heads into the bay. Our friends take off hastily even as the submarine opens fire. Suddenly, there is a frightful explosion but it doesn't come from the aircraft. The submarine has exploded! It apparently hit one of its own mines which must have drifted out of position due to the strong currents. Our friends return to Cape Town and then home, leaving the French authorities to deal with what they had found on Hog Island. Category:Plot summaries